David Mitchell

After Action Report

3 minute read

I’ve been going through the Best Year Ever course by Michael Hyatt. On day two, he has you look over the last year and evaluate how it went. You are asked to evaluate what did well, what could you do to improve, and what were some setbacks you experienced. I enjoyed this exercise and found it very insightful. SO much so that I thought I would share what I learned.

What you did well?

This last year was an interesting one with a lot of changes in my life. I think what I did well was adjust to the changes as they came and life has improved because of it. At the beginning of the year I was in the middle of a major refactoring project as a project manager at Vivint. There my team and I worked on getting the customer on boarding system rewritten so it would scale with the increased product offerings as well as optimizing it to adapt to the call volume we expected. It all had to be done by March and we met that deadline with a great effort from the team.

In September I started working for O.C. Tanner and our small team has gelled as we have worked to make the product we are responsible for more robust and more bullet-proof. That has gone well and integrating with a new team has been great.

What setbacks did I experience?

In June I was let go from Vivint. I was burned out the work we had done over the holidays, and since this was the second year straight that it happened, I wasn’t all that excited to see if it would happen a third year in a row. I began looking for a new job in May. Vivint beat me to the punch and let me go before I expected it.

What could I improve?

While looking for new work, I noticed I could have done better it I had kept more relationships open. The key to getting a good job is being visible, and I had let myself drift off just about every radar and had to start from scratch. So, what could I have done better? Network. I’m something of an introvert and don’t go out of my way to get to know people, however, I enjoy working with people. It’s just that initial “get to know you” stage that I have a hang up with. So, one of the things I learned this year is that I could be better at networking and getting to know people.

One of the other things I learned is that while I enjoy programming because of the problem solving opportunities it provides, I don’t just enjoy programming. While my development skills are in demand, I feel I can provide a lot more value in my ability to solve problems on social or team level. I did a really good job with my team at Vivint. They were one of the best teams in our department. But I could do a better job at helping people see how that is a valuable skill (more valuable than my development skills, because it energizes and engages the power of many people, while development is just a solitary individual utilization).

Summary

What does all this mean?

Well, Michael Hyatt’s program is not just about making goals. It’s about creating a great life from this day forward. One of the keys to accomplishing that is to evaluate what has happened in the past and make a plan to take some lessons learned and apply them to your future development.

I’ve never looked at my yearly goal setting in that light and it’s been a great exercise and has helped me identify areas I can set some goals in this year that I never would have seen had I not done this.